Legendary Characters
Ol' Dusty For a long time, elves were not considered a trustworthy race by the Ryengan people. A lot still don't trust them all that much. Elves are often closely associated with various fey spirits, and fey spirits around Ryengo tend to be very mischievous creatures unless they work for the Three Guardians, which led to the perception of elves as troublemakers. It was the actions of one old ranger that changed a lot of the perceptions about the elvish race- Mathias "Ol' Dusty" Farms. Mathias was a third generation elf who refused to follow his fellows into exile, he rather liked being around the other races; had a lot of friends, up until the Wars and old age took them all away. He was stranded on Scylla for some time. Once spaceflight was sufficiently redeveloped to the point where he could go to Uwibami, he left, hoping to find survivors from one of his old friends' families. What he found was that his friend's family had become the Xing dynasty, and though the other Ryengans didn't trust him as far as they could throw him, the Emperor of the time- Hachirou Xing- welcomed him into the Imperial Palace and, in a gesture that Hachirou believed would honor his ancestors' memories, gave Mathias a job as one of his advisors in foreign relations. It wasn't really to Ol' Dusty's liking, but it paid well and the lodgings were some of the best he'd slept in since the glory days of the Federation. During the early 1400s, the Allamian Commonwealth launched the first of what would be many surprise attacks on Ryengo, specifically to try and destroy the new dynasty. As the empire had only been reestablished for a short period of time, they had quite a bit of trouble handling an attack directly on the capital city. Though the Ryengans were quick to mount a defense, they weren't quick enough to save the Emperor. Or the Empress. Or most of the young princes and princesses. The Allamians slaughtered them on sight. Only one, the future Empress Xiu, escaped the massacre. Hachirou's wife Nuan had become close to Mathias during his stay, and pleaded with the ranger to take the little one to safety, reasoning that he would surely be overlooked as he was but a foreigner. He would not be cared about in the confusion, carrying one little bundle out through a secret passage in the Imperial Palace would surely go unnoticed. Nuan was right for the most part- only a handful of people even looked twice at Mathias, several even presumed he was fleeing like a coward and spat on him, and he got out of the palace just fine. He even nearly made it to the Scarlet Wolves' barracks within the Imperial City, but the infant princess began crying, and drew the attention of Allamian soldiers who didn't give a damn who he was- he wasn't a Ryengan, but he wasn't an Allamian, and he was armed. Far as they were concerned, he was a viable target. What the Allamians didn't know is that Ol' Dusty hadn't survived for innumerable centuries by dumb luck- he was very skilled with his fancy, custom made weapons. And he was, to say the least, quite determined that nobody but nobody was going to lay a hand on his charge. The soldiers who accosted him were dead before they hit the ground, but that only served to draw more. And when those poor fools died, more came in response to their screams for help. This created a vicious cycle that lasted for several hours- Mathias would kill the increasing numbers of people who came to kill him and the infant princess, and the Allamians would send more soldiers to try and kill him, by now believing that he was some kind of Ryengan super-soldier that they'd kept hidden and had sent out to distract them. For seven hours, Mathias butchered his way across four miles of urban landscape, clutching little Xiu to his chest, patching his wounds with whatever scraps he could get his hands on when he had a chance. When he ran out of ammunition for his bowgun, he picked up the weapons his enemies had so graciously dropped for him after he drilled them all full of holes, and kept on going. None seemed capable of standing before him- even when the Allamians began sending tanks, snipers, and hunting beasts after him, it only seemed to heighten his creative thinking and brutality. He would only barely succeed in his mission, delivering the miraculously unharmed Xiu to the Scarlet Wolf Clan, and passing on from his wounds only minutes after she was delivered to safety. To this day no one is certain how many enemies the old elf managed to kill- somewhere between several hundred and over a thousand- but the memory of his efforts and heroism has become part of Ryengo's storytelling culture; his sacrifice has had such long-reaching effects that it is upheld as one of the main reasons the empire has strong relations with the Grunwald Konigreich. The Wall Maiden Junko Nishikawa was not a very powerful spirit, nor was she very popular during her prime in the late 1600s. A red-crowned crane-like spirit- symbolic of the Heavens, particularly the Austere Courts, as well as happiness and hope- whenever Nishikawa came out from the Emerald Gate (a near daily occurrence during the 1640s) she believed it was not only her p urpose but her prerogative to spread the joy of life amongst mortals. This caused a great deal of trouble for a number of people, specifically the Chunigawa (more or less Yakuza, but with a lot less chivalry, a lot more racial diversity, and enough weapons to provide for a small army) who were making huge profits in the humanoid trafficking market- Halflings, Half-Orcs, Tieflings, and felinoid breeds of Kemono all went for a high price on the black markets. As one might expect, this did not sit well with Nishikawa, and she not only spoke out loudly against it but she drew others to her cause- especially figures with authoritative power in the world of mortals, such as the Onyx Vultures. Though her public persona prevented her from being useful in gathering information or accomplishing legal tasks, she was able to convince many people that they should not stand for such abhorrent behavior and created a network of informants that ended up including several skylands worth of people. It would be an understatement to say that Nishikawa's efforts drew the ire of the Chunigawa families. It was the early spring of 1647 when the first assassination attempts came. None of them were successful, as Nishikawa had learned of them well in advance from her supporters. Instead of trying to work around her or moving their operations, the Chunigawa only became more aggressive. For four years they tried to be subtle in having her voice silenced, and for four years their efforts failed. At some point, one of the major figures in the Chunigawa, a most aggressive and hateful man by the name of Hirohoto Klay, lost patience and decided that if she could not be quieted through polite and conventional means, then impolite and more direct ones would be necessary. Nishikawa was too great a threat to be left alone, too popular and too well supported. To remedy the problem, Klay took every thug he could get his hands on- nearly eight thousand people- and organized an enormous ambush in the small town of Koronoak, where Nishikawa had scheduled to make a speech against the Chunigawa's trafficking trade. But like all other attempts, this too would fail. Few knew how Nishikawa had managed to turn away so many attacks over the years; she never divulged the secrets of her personal defense training regimens, nor did she tell anyone about her magical fan, or exactly what powers she was endowed with. All of these were geared toward defense of self and those around her. Herding every civilian she could into the town hall, Nishikawa went outside, and barred the doors. She faced the Chunigawa alone- the Imperial Army would not stand for such an action, but it would be a few hours before they could bring their forces to bear. Klay, knowing that Nishikawa was a magical creature and believing it wisest not to have his followers get anywhere near her, ordered ranks to be formed to rain arrows and bolts upon her from a few hundred yards away. They didn't need to be accurate, they only had to saturate the area with enough projectiles and she would eventually fall, or so they believed. Employing all of her skills, she turned away innumerable thousands of arrows and bolts, harmlessly knocking them out of the air. Her grace and poise made it look not only beautiful but easy, as though she was expending little to no real effort. After only a half hour of fruitlessly raining projectiles, the crooks gave up and began trying to leave. Klay attempted to stop them, demanding that they fulfill their contracts, but this only led to him being impaled upon a spike and left to hang- the criminals realized, or at least believed, that Nishikawa would at least be able to hold out until the Imperial Army arrived, at which point they would all die. Valuing their lives more than money, Klay was left to rot. Many gave up their criminal ways for good, fearful that further unlawful or evil acts would condemn their souls. This was a major victory for Nishikawa and her cause- though it did not break the slave trade, it crippled it beyond repair, and from then until now, trafficking of people remains one of the smallest black markets in Ryengo. The Griffon of Nogumoto In the late 1600s, Hanzo Shigurawa, a diplomat from the Scarlet Wolves, married Paradisian Enforcer Natalie Hamish-Shigurawa. Being biologically incompatible- Hanzo was a kampftier, and Natalie was a lutrosan- they adopted an orphan, Natsuo Shigurawa, a wisp of a half-orc who never really developed properly as a result of malnutrition in his infancy. Natsuo's family moved between both worlds a great deal, and he learned much of the ways of both the Empire and of Paradise City; a necessity, as both of his parents were very demanding people, coming from positions of authority and power. They gave him the best education they could afford, the best teachers, and when his efforts yielded the results they required of him showered him with great rewards. It was expected that the boy would eventually become a great leader of soldiers like his father, or a keeper of order and arbiter of peace like his mother, but he chose to become a traveling artist instead. Neither of his parents said a word against it, as their son did all that they asked of him- he followed his chosen profession with passion and gusto, always striving to be better, and being a good and ethical man of high moral quality. He did not become as famous as many hoped he would, but he was still much beloved by various Ryengan skylands for all the charity work he did. Because of how frail his body was, his life expectancy was not what it should have been. He was only a hundred when his body began to fail him, and he rapidly aged. In 1732, his skyland came dangerously close to the Airstream. This created an effect similar to an earthquake, at a magnitude of approximately 6.9 on the Richter scale. For a flying island this was effectively the wrath of an angry god threatening to shake the entire landmass asunder. At this point in his life, Natsuo had become so weak that he was confined to a wheelchair, and was in the middle of being evacuated by his parents- both of whom were in far better condition than he was- when half of their home, the Nogumoto Prefecture, flat out collapsed. Natsuo was nowhere to be found, only a broken wheelchair and two unconscious, elderly diplomats. Being something of a local treasure, many rescue efforts had been diverted just to finding him, even at the cost of other lives. Natsuo's body was found two days later under a pile of rubble which had once been the Nogumoto District University, a highly regarded facility which gave no small number of scholarships out to the disadvantaged, where Natsuo had graduated. Despite his weakened state, he had found the strength to rise from his wheelchair, provide some basic first aid to his parents, and walked off into the chaos of the collapsing city. Nobody knows how he managed to get that far; twenty miles more or less, with the ground raging and quaking around him, screaming people panicking in the streets, the dust threatening to suffocate his sensitive lungs. But he had made it there, and given his life to protect a dorm full of undergrads. His body was found bent at the knees, with his arms spread to help his broken back hold up the last surviving support pillar, which kept the dorm from falling down and killing everyone inside. His body had become so rigid, frozen in place by sheer force of will combined with rigor mortis, that they had to saw his limbs up and reattach them for proper funerary rites. A statue of Natsuo now stands outside of the rebuilt NDU; a frail little half-breed knelt down, holding Scylla and Uwibami up on his shoulders. Ryengo Empire Back to Main Page